Waste of My Time
by CeleneTheAngel
Summary: Rosa wants to become the best Pokémon trainer in the Unova region, but how can she with Team Plasma gallavanting around? Add in an overzealous friend with a revenge quest, and her Pokémon Journey will be quite hectic indeed. One-shot.


Castelia City. The center of business and economy in the Unova region. A sprawling metropolis filled with towering skyscrapers. As Rosa steps off the boat with her servine by her side, and her pidove perched on her shoulder, she can only stare up in awe.

 _I...I finally made it._

Unfortunately, the view was somewhat ruined by an ominous boat nearby.

Rosa walked right by it without giving the boat a second glance, already heading for the gym. She didn't want to get involved in any more bullshit that would waste her time, like those guys practically forcing her to make a movie at Pokestar studios just an hour ago.

She weaved through the swaths of people, business men and women alike making their way to and from work. Her Pokemon had long since been returned to their pokeballs, so as not to get separated in the crowd. It is almost impossible to see anything through the thoroughly congested area.

Rosa silently thanked her mom for packing a map, and with it she was able to find the Pokemon gym.

Luckily, the street it was on wasn't as crowded as the rest of the city, and she was able to see the green stained glass windows all the more clearly. Another thing that she saw clearly was the guy blocking the door, and when she approached, he spoke.

"If you're looking for the gym Leader, Burgh, he just said there was trouble in the sewers, and took off. You can go look for him if you like."

Rosa's face morphed into a scowl of irritation. "He couldn't have asked someone else to check for him?" She asked scathingly.

The guy just chuckled. "Burgh's a very 'hands on' kinda guy."

"Has Burgh disappeared again?" Someone asked.

The two turned around in surprise to see a younger-looking girl behind them. She is wearing a long yellow shirt with pink cuffs on the hands and neck. A pink cloth is draped around her hips, serving as a skirt. She had her wild black hair tied into poofy pogtails, with the remainder falling down her back.

"Oh! Hello Iris." The guy says. "Something came up and Burgh isn't here right now."

The girl, Iris, asked "Isn't Burgh always vanishing though?"

"The Gym Leader disappearing is _normal_?" Rosa asked with a brow raised.

Iris sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. Burgh always says he has artists' block, and then he runs off."

Rosa sighed, exasperated by this. "Well I need to challenge him to get my next badge." She massaged her temples for a moment before turning to Iris. "Do you know where the sewers are?"

Iris nodded, and then took off down the street.

The man in front of the door laughed. "Good grief...Burgh and Iris are so similar." He said this to himself as Rosa had already taken off, following Iris as best as she could through the crowded streets.

* * *

As she approached the fifth pier in Castelia city, Thumb Pier, the one closest to the SkyArrow bridge, Iris started gesturing to a hole that would apparently lead underneath the city.

"There's another guy already in there. Been there for awhile. I think he said was looking for Team Plasma. And he must not have found Burgh yet. Maybe you can help him." Iris suggested before running off.

 _Could it be Hugh_? Rosa wondered. It was a possibility. If there was even a whisper of Team Plasma being in the sewers, he would be there. But it could've also been a lot of other people. Team Plasma made quite a few enemies when they stole people's pokemon a couple of years ago.

While Rosa pondered this, there was a flash of light from one of her pokeballs opening, and her pidove appeared on the ground.

Rosa stared in confusion. "You want to be out for _this_?" She questioned.

Pidove assured her with a soft coo of " _Piiii_ ". Then it flapped its wings and hopped onto her shoulder.

Rosa giggled in amusement while patting Pidove's head. But then she pulled out a flashlight she had packed just in case, and went into the sewers.

* * *

It was dark, but not unseeable. In fact, Rosa found little need for the flashlight once her eyes adjusted, though not fast enough to avoid bumping into someone.

The person she bumped into went sprawling on the ground. He groaned loudly, and Rosa found herself uttering apologies. She then promptly turned on the flashlight.

In front of her was a spikey head of hair and a red-white lined jacket.

"Hugh?!" Rosa asked out loud.

The boy in question stood up and turned around, spotting his friend, he smiled widely.

"Rosa! You're here!" He grabbed her by the arm. "This is great! With you here, Team Plasma won't stand a chance!"

"WHOA! Whoa!" Rosa shouted, ripping her arm out of her friend's grasp before he could drag her too far. "I'm not fighting Team Plasma again! I'm just here to find Burgh, and tell him to get back to his gym _where he should have been in the first place!_ " She growled out the last part.

Hugh looked kind of disappointed. "Come on Rosa! I can't take them on by myself." He practically pleaded.

Rosa's glare intensified, then lessened. "Can't we just get the police? Isn't this their job?"

"Well yeah, but Officer Jenny doesn't patrol down here."

Oh shoot. That was a good point.

 _This is the perfect place for Team Plasma to hide._ Rosa realized. But it had yet to be proven whether or not they were really here. "Have you actually seen any Team Plasma members down here Hugh?" She questioned.

"No..." He trailed off. "But Iris told me this was the best place to look." He quickly added.

Rosa sighed. "Alright, I know for a fact that the gym Leader, Burgh, is down here, so how about we both go looking for him, so we can challenge him and get our gym badges, and _if_ we find any team Plasma members, we can kick their butts." She compromised.

Hugh smiled a bright grin of agreement before grabbing Rosa's arm and dragging her deeper into the sewers.

* * *

"We've been walking for awhile. Maybe they're not down here, and maybe Burgh went back to his gym." Rosa said after they turned yet _another_ corner.

Hugh stopped walking and considered this. "Maybe you're right." He quietly said, although he sounded heartbroken. This was supposed to be his chance to find Team Plasma and get his and his sister's Pokemon back. But if they weren't here... when was he going to get this kind of chance again?

He groaned loudly in frustration.

Rosa cringed at how loud his voice was, and the way it seemed to echo off the walls. "Shhh!" She whisper yelled. "You're going to wake up all the sleeping zubats down here." They had seen several clusters of Zubats on their way here, and it would have been in their best interest not to wake them. And although there didn't appear to be many around here, it couldn't hurt to be too careful.

"Let's go." Rosa said with an uncharacteristic softness, patting her friend's back in an attempt to comfort him. He nodded, and as they both turned to leave, they heard voices.

 _"...think it_ _'s a Pokemon?"_ Someone's voice echoed from around the corner.

 _"No, it sounded like people."_

 _"Well it might be the police. Let's pack all the stolen pokeballs and leave."_

Rosa and Hugh stood still like deer caught in headlights as they listened to this. Then Hugh took off after the voices.

"Wait!" Rosa called, now actually yelling and forgetting to whisper.

Running at full speed, she followed Hugh around a corner, and almost barreled into him. He had stopped suddenly and was staring down two team Plasma members. A young lady with orange hair, and a man with brown hair. Clearly, they had not expected to run into anyone down here, because they stared at the two pokemon trainers in shock.

Hugh shouted "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR STEALING PEOPLE'S POKEMON!" And then he sent out his Pignite, and the female member sent out a Scraggy.

The male member tried to run, to get reinforcements probably, but Rosa had taken the time to get behind both Team Plasma members, and now stood in his way.

Pidove flew off her shoulder, and she threw out Servine next to him. Now, the Team Plasma member's path was completely obstructed.

He scowled through his face mask and sent out a grimer and a sandile, and the pokemon battle began.

* * *

"Grimer, sludge!"

"Servine dodge it!" Servine ducked out of the way of the attack. "Pidove, gust." Rosa called, and a fierce wind picked up the Sandile and slammed it into the cave wall. It got back up though.

"Servine, finish it off with Leaf tornado! Pidove, gust on the grimer."

The fierce blast of wind blew the grimer back, and it couldn't get any closer to Servine who summoned a vortex of leaves and wind around the sandile. The little brown pokémon collapsed when the leaves disappeared.

Grimer, unable to get to Servine, turned to Pidove and sent a thick wave of sludge at it on the grunt's orders.

"Pidove, dodge it!" Rosa called, and the little bird pokémon stopped his attack and flew upwards out of the way. "Servine, tackle!" Rosa called. The grimer's back was visible and Servine slammed into it, sending the other pokémon flying into the cave wall, also K.O.'d.

The grunt recalled both of his pokemon, scowling at Rosa, who simply smirked.

A surge of heat came from behind the grunt, and Rosa pushed him out of the way to see Hugh's Pignite relentlessly spewing fire at the other grunt's Scraggy and Trapinch. When the inferno died down, her pokemon were unconscious, and she recalled them too.

Defeated, the grunts pushed the two trainers to the ground, and took off into the darkness of the sewers.

Hugh got up, and was about to take off after them, before Rosa grabbed the back of his jacket, stopping him.

He whirled around to face her. "What are you doing?! We have to go after them!"

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Someone said from behind them.

The two trainers turned around to face the newcomer, a man with short, curly brown hair, a green and purple striped shirt, and a red scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Are you the gym leader, Burgh?" Hugh asked.

The man smiled. "Yessir! The one and only! I'm Burgh. And these sewers are really complex. You could easily get lost, so it's for the best your friend stopped you."

Hugh was taken aback. "Is that...so?

"Yes indeedy." Burgh told him. "I'm concerned about Team Plasma as well. But more importantly, can we leave this place? These sewers are bugging me."

 _Did he just make a pun?_ Rosa wondered. Normally, she'd probably be yelling at the guy for not being in his gym during the period of time trainers could challenge him, but she had had enough time to let the frustration simmer out.

As if remembering something, Hugh turned to Burgh. "Huh...didn't you and the other gym leaders fight Team Plasma two years ago?"

Burgh never gave an answer, and it seems Hugh hadn't been expecting one, because he turned to Rosa.

"Thanks for your help" He said sincerely and gave his friend an HM for the move strength.

Before he could turn away again, Rosa held up her Xtransceiver. "Hey, Can we register each other's Xtransceiver numbers? We never needed to before, I mean..." For some reason, she blushed a little. "You were always right next door. But since we're both on our Pokemon journeys, I figured..."

"We need a way to stay in contact?" Hugh finished for her. "Alright." He pulled out his Xtransceiver, and they registered each other.

"I'm gonna continue to look for Team Plasma tomorrow." Hugh told her. "I can't ever forgive those Pokemon thieves."

Hugh walked off, but Burgh was close behind, explaining that he knew the sewers better and could lead them out. Turning back to Rosa he asked "Are you coming? I assume you want to challenge me at my gym."

Yes she did. But Rosa, who also wanted to be alone right now, and possibly train a bit more now that she was in an area where she could do that said, "I'll find my own way back." I mean, it''s not like Burgh was going to leave the gym _again_ after this...Was he? She should probably hurry just in case.

They left, leaving Rosa all alone in the dark sewers.

"Well done." Someone said from behind her. Oh. Apparently _not_ completely alone. What was it with people unexpectedly coming up behind her recently?

"That was an excellent demonstration of battling." The new mystery person complimented coming out of a dark tunnel.

Rosa thanked him, but it occurred to her that she should probably be more afraid. I mean, a creepy guy in the darkness of the sewers, and she _was_ by herself at the moment. Her pokemon would not be at 100% after that last fight, and who knows how strong this guy is.

But he didn't come any closer, so she relaxed.

"The way you and that boy brought out the power of your Pokemon against an opponent like Team Plasma. Astounding! Simply astounding! Interesting as well. I see..." The mystery person said.

Then he walked past her and she was left alone once more.

* * *

It took awhile, but she finally stepped into the light of day, and Iris's voice greeted her.

"So, everything went well in the sewers?"

Rosa looked up at the girl. "Have you been waiting here this whole time?" She asked incredulously.

"Yep! So, what are you gonna do now?"

"I'm gonna challenge the gym leader." _Duh._ Rosa said and thought. It was what she had been working up to this entire time.

Iris nodded. "I'm sure battling him will come to help your Pokemon understand you better." She smiled knowingly and gestured to the third pokéball on Rosa's belt.

"Well, good luck!" She called and ran off.

* * *

The Castelia City gym belonged to Burgh, a bug-type trainer. Even so, the design of the gym was really interesting.

It was a maze of webs and string and cocoons. And the cocoons had holes in them. When Rosa walked into one, she would find herself shooting upwards, or at a diagonal. And when the rush of air finally stopped, she would be standing on a level platform in another cocoon.

The silky feel of the cocoon made it hard to want to get out. But Rosa immediately stepped out and scrambled away from the cocoon as she felt another rush of air.

And this repeated a few more times, Rosa stepping into the cocoons and being sent to another part of the gym before jumping into another one and ending up somewhere else.

Finally, she stepped into a cocoon that rocketed her straight up, and she emerged in a wide round room. Paint was splattered on every inch of the walls and floor, some of it dripped down from the ceiling, which Rosa dodged around as she didn't want paint in her hair. There were paint cans and paintbrushes scattered everywhere.

Well...She could easily see where the artist thing came from.

The room was beautiful, light coming from nowhere reflecting off the colors. But there was only one thing she cared about right now.

"Great job getting up here." Burgh told her with a smile. "My bug-types have been scurrying with excitement about getting to battle you."

"Alright." Rosa said, right hand hovering over her Pokeballs.

Burgh just smiled. "I'd say my bug type Pokemon are pretty great. Come on, let me brag a little." Rosa reluctantly let her hand fall to her side.

"Dwebble's round eyes are cute. It's resilient and reliable.

My ace is Leavanny. It's really the best!" And Rosa inwardly face-palmed. _It's not an ace if the person already knows about it!_ But she silently took in the information he knowingly or unknowingly gave her. Now she knew for sure that he had a dwebble and a leavanny.

But there was a third Pokeball on his belt. _So, what's his third pokemon?_ Rosa wondered.

"Of course, I'm really proud of all my Pokemon." Burgh had continued saying.

"Now, let's get right down to it!"

 _Finally..._ Rosa thought and smirked. Burgh picked up his first pokeball.

A calm smile on her face, Rosa too picked up hers.

With a cry of "Come out, Pidove!" The battle begun.


End file.
